Sir, you have to pay more

Chapter 768 Where did my king's money go?
Xingyuan Finance Department.

The atmosphere was solemn and solemn, but also extremely tense.

The reason was that Prince Rui was doing the accounting.

Dozens of accountants temporarily hired from Zhong Xiangcheng were doing their calculations in "Pili Ba La", and the data strips were continuously handed over to Li Anan, the Hubei Zuo Canzheng who was in charge of the financial work, and then summarized to Prince Rui.

This Li An'an is the nephew of Li Shijie, the governor of Sichuan. He was recommended by Li Shijie to Jia Liu, who was the admiral of Sichuan at the time, to serve as a military officer in the Central Military Commission.

Later, when Jia Liu returned to Beijing to work, he brought Li An'an there, and he has been in charge of financial work. He was regarded as his personal general accountant, and he was given the rank of a fourth-rank counselor in Zhili Governor's Yamen.

Compared with Li Anan, who is not even a scholar, the Hubei Zuo, who has been promoted from the third rank, is now an important turning point in his life.

Compared with Master Shuanzhu, who was born as a servant of the prince's family, who is the magistrate of the fourth rank, Li An'an is very satisfied.

If the future work can continue to be appreciated by Prince Rui, it may not be impossible to serve as a governor and important minister in the future.

In the Qing Dynasty, employing people was based on ability, not academic qualifications.

In terms of academic qualifications, Li Wei, the governor of Zhili in those days, and the current Prince Rui, one may continue to be a rich second generation at home, while the other is pretending to be a ghost somewhere.

And the prince's appointment of people is even more eclectic, and his servants are extremely loose, making it difficult for people not to get close.

But today, whether it is the prince himself or Li An'an, all of them look dignified and the atmosphere is very tense.

Because accounting is not only related to the issue of account expenses, but also related to whether the prince's political offensive can continue.

Historically, when recruiting security, the recruits must be given enough money and food expenses, so that their political and living benefits are one or two levels higher than before, so that the recruits can willingly work for the court.

It’s like when people earned 2000 yuan a month during the rebellion, but they also received 2000 yuan a month after being recruited, or even less than 2000 yuan, then those who were recruited would definitely jump around and scold their mothers, and then they would fuck you hard.

Wasn't that the case with Zhang Xianzhong, the great bandit who recruited security in the Ming Dynasty?

The base of the Xinghan army is too small and too weak, so Jia Liu's political offensive is right, but the premise of the political offensive is that there are enough money.

Unfortunately, Jia Liu has just been told that his banknotes are going to bottom out.

This made Jia Liu very depressed. In Beijing, he knocked out more than 200 million taels of banknotes, so he was full of confidence and went south to seek thieves. Why has he just started to show his strength, but he has lost his confidence? .

Therefore, accounts must be accounted for.

He doesn't want to know how his money came from, he just wants to know how his money disappeared.

Next, we are calculating the expenses for the past two months, and here Ji Yun is summarizing the situation in Huguang.

"My lord, the usual salary and silver expenses of the Huguang Green Camp, the horse soldiers receive two taels of silver a month, the soldiers receive one tael and five taels of silver a month, and the guards receive one tael of silver a month. All three receive three buckets of rice per month. The disbursements in winter and winter will be made by each ministry and sent to the ministry for approval."

However, under normal circumstances, regardless of horsemen, warriors, or guards, there are actually only 12 taels of salary a year, about 450 catties of grain.

The number of guards may be roughly this number, and the soldiers and horsemen must have more money. Where did it go?
It's nothing more than layer upon layer of exploitation, withholding under various names.

According to the actual purchasing power of silver, 12 taels of silver is about 7000 yuan, plus a few hundred catties of rice, it is only 1 yuan.

How can you support a family with 1 yuan?

Therefore, the wages of the officers and soldiers of the green camp are really low. Jia Liu knew this very well when he was an admiral in Sichuan. Salary, several prongs, roughly guarantees that the annual income of ordinary soldiers in the Sichuan Green Camp is about 3 yuan, which is three times the salary in the past.

The salaries of military officers have more than quintupled.

Only in this way can we firmly hold the Sichuan Green Camp in our hands. Whether it is a soldier or an officer, we only know Mr. Jia but not the Qing Dynasty.

While guaranteeing loyalty, it has greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan Green Camp.

Money is the guts of a person, and there is nothing wrong with saying this.

It's just that the source of funds for Jia Liu's equal pay for equal work in Sichuan is not the Ministry of Households, nor the Ministry of War, but the funds raised by him and Sichuan Governor Li Shijie privately.

Including but not limited to embezzlement.

In essence, the money still belongs to the imperial court, but in the actual operation process, the money is surnamed Jia.

Except for the Sichuan Lvying, the teams that Jia Liu raised in Zhili basically followed this model. The source of funds used to support these teams was not only the finance of Zhili, but also the private property of the emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng.

These funds were mobilized by Jia Liu in various ways, so apart from his political wisdom and military command ability, Jia Liu also had a highly developed business acumen.

To describe him as an all-rounder is probably objective.

It's just that apart from the direct line troops of the headquarters, the current situation of the Qing army is quite miserable.

The salary level of the Huguang Green Camp could not support a family at all. This is why after the Xinghan Army entered Huguang, the local Green Camp almost collapsed at the touch of a button, and then became a mass of thieves.

The Huguang Green Camp originally had 27500 soldiers. Based on the basic salary of 12 taels a year, the financial needs to pay 33 taels of silver a year.

This does not include officer salaries, salt, vegetable and clothing expenses, weapons and ordnance expenses, logistics support expenses, communication and contact expenses, social interaction expenses, tobacco and alcohol entertainment expenses, reception and delivery expenses.
Therefore, the one-year military salary expenditure of Dazhang Huguang Green Camp is 158 million taels.

Huguang is actually two provinces, Hunan and Hubei.

The annual fiscal revenue is less than 400 million taels.

The military salary of the green battalion alone accounts for more than one-third, not including the eight banners stationed in Jingzhou, and the salaries of civil servants in the whole province.

Computing all kinds of miscellaneous things, Huguang's finances are barely balanced, that is, there is no need for the imperial court to make up for Huguang's deficit through transfer payments, but Huguang also has no ability to pay more taxes to the imperial court to help poorer places develop their economies. .

Now comes the problem. Hubei has been corrupted for almost two years. Although it has regained two-thirds of its territory, its fiscal revenue is about zero.

Even if the big burden of Jingzhou's garrison of the Eight Banners is removed, the Huguang Green Battalion itself has suffered heavy losses in the two years of war. The actual number of soldiers has dropped from more than 2 in the past to less than 5000. Huguang's finances are still in a huge deficit.

In the past two years, if it weren't for the large amount of funds allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs, plus the support from brother provinces Sichuan, Henan, Shaanxi and other places, not to mention whether the remaining Qing army in Huguang could survive, even the anti-insurgency army commanded by Feng Sheng'e would have to disband because of poverty.

What's the situation with the household department?

The old rich even tacitly agreed that the six sons and virtuous brothers picked up Lord Kangxi's grave, so what else could he mean?

"Qian Zong only has two taels of silver a month, and Ba Zong only has one tael or five taels of silver per month, and there is no rice or stone. In one official ration, except for pan silver and Xiaoyue silver, it is only used for the family to eat. Wife and children Hunger and cold, how can there be no complaints. If you don’t break the rules and show kindness, the people’s hearts will be uneasy, and how can you guarantee that there will be no defectors to help the enemy?”

Although Ji Yun is a half-hearted deputy minister of national defense, the situation he has is more detailed than the following, and the data given are the most authentic.

"If the silver taels needed to buy firewood are calculated on the basis of three cents per day, half of the salary will be used. It is reasonable to support Wu Bian's family. If he is transferred to the imperialists, there is no rice left. Although there is half of the silver, the Buying firewood and fodder for cooking still requires taels of silver, and this item is also calculated on the basis of three cents per day, so far the salary has been exhausted. Besides, there are still a lot of expenses. What is the rest of the grain and rice on the way? Where do you get the salt and vegetables? Where did it come from?"

Jia Liu got dizzy when he heard that, and said impatiently, "Okay, okay, tell me how much money this king needs to keep the situation going."

"Um"

Ji Yun asked the prince whether the account should be calculated according to the past standard, or according to the preferential treatment method.

Jia Liu, of course, counted it as preferential treatment, that is, his salary was doubled.

The rest of the original Huguang Green Camp and the newly surrendered Xinghan Army included the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp, the Yunnan Green Camp, and the Jiangxi Green Camp under the control of his general Wang in Huguang.

Except for the direct descendants of the headquarters, the Eight Banners soldiers who came from Beijing still follow the previous standard, but this standard is several times higher than that of the green camp.

Ji Yun expressed his understanding, then picked up the account book, and used the abacus to do the math.

Divide it into several parts and calculate the expenses for the prince.

First, the Eight Banners soldiers.

According to the provisions of the "Regulations on Military Salaries of the Imperial Household Department", the forwards, guards, and leaders of the Eight Banners are paid 4 taels of silver per month, 3 taels of silver per month for vests, and 48 dendrobium of rice per year. .

Roughly, the monthly salary of an ordinary soldier of the Eight Banners is 5000 yuan, and 10 yuan a year. In addition, there are miscellaneous benefits.

If you go out, you have to double it.

The other is the future of military merit.

The overall salary level of the Eight Banners is five to six times that of the Green Camp.

There are about 19000 Central Eight Banners soldiers who accompanied Jia Liu to the front line of Huguang. If these 19000 soldiers spend a year in Huguang, nothing else is counted. If only wages and overtime wages are counted, it will cost about 200 million taels a year.

Counting other various expenses, the 19000 Central Army alone will cost about 350 million taels a year.

Second, the prince's own soldiers.

There are about 7000 people in the Rehe horse team, Sauron soldiers, guards, and personal guards. These are based on double the wages of the Eight Banners. Together with equipment and horses, the annual expenditure is at least 250 million taels.

Third, the troops under the control of the prince, because the base salary is low, even if it is doubled, it will not cost 100 million taels.

The fourth is the surrendered Xinghan Army.

The total number of people is nearly 25. According to the preferential treatment method of the prince's double salary, one person must be paid at least 30 taels to 200 taels a year. Together with equipment and food, at least [-] million taels of silver will be required.

These are officers and soldiers only, excluding generals and officers.

The tens of thousands of people in the Red Belt and Belt Battalion have not been counted, because these people are supplied as ordinary soldiers, and the cost is very low.

After a mess of calculations, Ji Yun came to the conclusion that to maintain the current expenditure of 1100 troops, the minimum a year would be [-] million taels.

This number shocked Jia Liu into a cold sweat: "You do the math again."

"it is good."

Ji Yun recalculated, and somehow got to 1200 million taels.

But it has increased the expenses of civilian husbands, pensions for those who died in battle and the expenses for rewarding meritorious service.

"This king finally understands how difficult it is for the fourth devil."

Jia Liu sighed deeply. He didn't know about this account, but he was shocked.

Originally, I heard that the fourth devil had spent 8000 million taels of silver in order to fight Jinchuan, the big and small of the two counties.

But when things came to him, he realized that war is really a bottomless pit.

The so-called cannon fire, ten thousand taels of gold is really not sensational, but real.

With an annual expenditure of tens of millions of taels, how do we fight this battle?
Fortunately, it's only been two months, and the expenses are not very big.

Accountant Li reported the accounts one by one, and the accounts showed that Prince Rui brought 256 million taels of cash with the army when he went on an expedition in central Beijing, most of which was confiscated crime money, and the lesser half was the opening fee from the household department.

"When Beijing was opened, the prince gave each person ten taels, which cost about 30 taels. In addition, the various ministries along the way lost about 10 taels. According to the preferential treatment method, half a year's salary was paid in advance, and a total of more than 110 million taels was needed. It takes more than 17 taels of money to rebuild the place, 10 taels of meat, salt and vegetables, more than [-] taels of horse feed, and [-] taels for Wang Daji and others."

Li An'an reported the accounts one by one, and finally told the prince that there was only [-] taels left in the account.

"So accurate?"

Jia Liu took a deep look at Li Anan, wondering if the general accountant had embezzled his money.

Seeing this, Li An'an hurriedly said: "If the prince doesn't believe the next official, you can ask a third party to intervene to re-audit."

"Cough cough,"

Jia Liu waved his hands casually, "Old Li, if I can't trust you, I will let you be my secretary of the household department? You can do things with confidence, I can trust you."

Ask Ji Yun sideways, how long can the 5 taels last if the preferential treatment continues.

"My lord, it's not how long it can last. Even if a surrendered soldier is paid half a year, the 5 taels can only recruit four thousand surrendered soldiers at most."

Ji Yun said that in the current situation, the prince will not be able to pay the money to continue in about three or two days, let alone raise a lot of money to recruit the high-level officials of the Xinghan army.

"It's so scary!"

Jia Liu took a deep breath and asked Ji Yun how much money the Governor's Yamen in Hubei could squeeze out for General Wang Xingyuan's expenses.

The answer is zero.

Ji Yun didn't bother to explain the specific situation.

Li An'an also said that Hubei appeases Zheng Dajin so poor that he is not only unable to support Xingyuan, but also wants to ask Xingyuan for money.

The reason is that the prince here puts all the resettlement tasks on the local people in Hubei. Except for the preferential treatment, they don't take away a dime. How does this make the local government do things?

Arranging for the army is not just about paying half a year's salary, but also providing oil, salt, rice, clothes, and helping resettle their families.

No money, what to do.

Unexpectedly, Jia Liu's face darkened on the spot: "This can't be done, the landlord's house has no food left over, tell Zheng Dajin to go with the court, what kind of business do I have to do with me! I'm not really a fool with a lot of money."

Ji Yun thought for a while, but still kindly reminded: "My lord, as far as I know, when I left Beijing, my lord had arranged tickets with His Royal Highness, Fu Zhongtang, and Prince An."

Jia Liu was stunned: "What guarantee ticket?"

Ji Yun said: "The lord said that except for the food and grass, the rest of the expedition will be settled by the lord himself, and the court should not be a big brother."

Jia Liu had a funny face: "I'm just talking, but they can still take it seriously? This Daqing is not my king's Daqing, why should I help Daqing do things out of my own pocket?"

It's not that Jia Liu didn't admit it, it's that he didn't expect such a big expense.

Neither Ji Yun nor Accountant Li said a word.

The atmosphere gradually became invincible.

　The story of the female director of Chang'an is neither pornographic, literary nor martial.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)